Updated 2:07 pm, Thursday, September 17, 2015

An interior view of a Snohomish County Jail cell, pictured in a file photo.

An interior view of a Snohomish County Jail cell, pictured in a file photo.

Photo: Melina Mara, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Lawsuit: Snohomish County jail staff killed mentally ill shoplifter

1 / 2

Back to Gallery

Bill Williams was agitated and uncooperative when he arrived at Snohomish County Jail late on Sept. 14, 2012.

Seventeen minutes later, he was dead.

Now, Williams’ family has sued Snohomish County, claiming jail staff were unnecessarily violent toward Williams, an Everett resident with medical problems both physical and mental. They claim the 59-year-old was mistreated by jail staff after he was arrested for shoplifting beer and cigarettes from a convenience store.

Investigators with the county medical examiner’s office ruled Williams’ death a homicide, finding that injuries sustained at the jail stopped his heart. An existing heart condition contributed to his death as well.

Williams was one of a string of deaths at the county jail, and his family is now one of several to sue Snohomish County.

A year after Williams died, a consultant hired by the Justice Department found the jail was inadequately staffed, too crowded and lacking in proper guidelines to ensure medically fragile inmates were handled properly. At least six other inmates have died at the jail since that September 2013 report was issued.

Photo: Family Photo

William Williams

William Williams, pictured in a family photo.

William Williams, pictured in a family photo.

In July, Snohomish County Sheriff Ty Trenary claimed jail conditions have improved in recent years while announcing a settlement in a lawsuit brought by the family of Michael Saffioti, a young man who died of an allergic reaction while jailed on suspicion of marijuana possession. Saffioti died in July 2012, two months before Williams.

“The jail continues to be a safer, more secure detention facility every day because of the changes that have been implemented,” Trenary said in a statement, after outlining a number of policy changes related to inmate health.

Contacted for comment about Williams’ family's lawsuit, an attorney for the county declined to address the allegations in detail.

The crime that saw Williams jailed and killed was equal parts desperation and thoughtlessness.

At the time, Williams was living in an apartment building meant for people with serious mental problems or drug addictions. A clerk at a nearby convenience store would later describe him as “disheveled” and “homeless” in appearance, according to the lawsuit.

Early on the evening he died, Williams stole a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from that store, located near his home in Compass Health’s Northstar Apartments. He then returned to steal a six-pack of beer. The total value of the stolen items was less than $15.

Everett police officers called to the area following the second theft found Williams walking nearby and arrested him. He wasn’t drunk – a breath test showed his blood-alcohol level to be .007 or lower – but he wasn’t cooperative either.

After some amount of struggle, police brought Williams to Snohomish County Jail. Corrections officers there described him as “groggy” and “slow to respond,” attorneys Kenneth Brewe and Karen Moore said in the civil complaint, and didn’t believe he was healthy.

“He just seemed off,” a corrections sergeant later recalled, according to the lawsuit.

Williams was bleeding from cuts on his wrists and right hand, and his face was badly bruised. He told jail workers he was on anti-psychotic medication; Brewe said in court papers Williams was clearly unwell.

Told to change into a jail uniform, Williams advanced on a corrections officer. He was taken down by five or six others, who pinned him to the ground as the sergeant in charge shocked him with a Taser stun gun.

Jail staff didn’t summon help for Williams, who came to shortly thereafter, according to the lawsuit. Questioned by a corrections officer, Williams told the officer to “eat shit.”

Brewe said that response angered the sergeant in charge of booking Williams into jail. She ordered her colleagues to pull Williams to his feet, which set off another altercation.

Officers forced Williams into a holding cell, where they knelt on his shoulders, neck and back, according to the lawsuit. The sergeant again shocked Williams with the Taser, that time by firing its metal barbs into his side.

Williams was left face down in the holding cell, his hands cuffed behind his back. Some time later, the sergeant realized he wasn’t breathing.

Still shackled, Williams was pulled from the cell. Jail staff and Everett Fire Department medics attempted to revive him, without success.

An autopsy would show Williams suffered injuries to his head and ribs, as well as his wrists. He suffered a heart attack brought on by the altercation.

In an obituary prepared by his loved ones, Williams was described as a man who “appreciated the virtues of living simply.” Williams, his obituarist wrote, “was a humble man with a kind heart, who found solace in the beauty of his Port Susan home surroundings.” Port Susan is located on northwestern portion of the Tulalip reservation.

Williams’ son and stepdaughter have joined his widow in the lawsuit filed against Snohomish County. No specific request for damages has been made.

Attorneys for Snohomish County are expected to respond in coming weeks to the lawsuit, which was filed Sept. 9 in King County Superior Court.